Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Monday, September 16, 2013

Pakistan, Yemen And Afghanistan Have Children Too, And They Are Being Killed by Our Drones

The death of a child -- any child -- is always painful and shocking. The awful gassing of children in Syria breaks the heart and tortures the soul. We all should and must speak up about this outrage.

But the deaths of 178 Pakistani children by American drones must also be acknowledged. We must put an end to killing children in the name of security. As National Security Advisor Susan Rice has said, "Nations cannot unleash the world's most horrific weapons against innocent civilians, especially children." She was talking about chemical weapons, but "death by drone" is equally horrific. Take one look at the photos of children killed by our drones, provided to me by Noor Beham when I made a trip to Pakistan last year, for graphic confirmation.

According to U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, "These weapons kill in the most gruesome possible way. They kill indiscriminately. They are incapable of distinguishing between a child and a rebel." Again, the quote refers to chemical weapons, but replace "rebel" with "militant" and she could be talking about drones. Whether Syrian or Pakistani, children should not be victims of war.

As the administration calls attention to the terrible killing of children in Syria, I call upon them to acknowledge the killing of children by U.S. drones, and to immediately halt our drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan.

Original Article
Source: huffingtonpost.com
Author: Robert Greenwald

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